11/4/2009 6:00:00 PM 10-1 Philly opens playoffs against St. Patrick Friday
By STEVE SWOGETINSKY Sports Editor
The Philadelphia Tornadoes wrapped up their 2009 regular season with a 38-6 victory over Choctaw Central Friday night in prep football action.
The 10-1 Tornadoes will host St. Patrick this Friday night in the first round of the Class 3A State Playoffs.
"Ten wins is a big deal for a high school football team," Philadelphia coach Teddy Dyess said. "But now we are at a point in the season where if we have one bad night, it's over. Our intensity level really needs to go up. We have an outstanding group of seniors and they deserve a long playoff run. We hope we can give it to them."
Choctaw Central finished its season with a 5-6 record and now looking ahead to next year.
"I wish it didn't end," coach Paul Killen said. "I'm not making excuses but we had a lot of injuries this year and it caught up with us. But I can't say enough about the effort our kids gave. Now we'll go back to the weight room and start getting ready for next season."
The Warriors took the opening kickoff but had to kick it away in four downs. A short punt set up the Tornadoes' first score of the night when they took over on the Choctaw Central 33-yard line. Brandon Willis pushed the ball down to the Choctaw Central 10-yard line on runs of 16 and seven yards. Then Georgio Grace carried it the rest of the way. Latimer Smith kicked the extra point and the Tornadoes took a 7-0 lead with 9:25 left in the first quarter.
Again Choctaw Central was forced to punt on the fourth down after the kickoff and the Tornadoes took over on the Choctaw Central 49-yard line. Philadelphia drove down to the Warrior two-yard line and Brandon Willis carried it in for a touchdown on the next play. Smith's kick was good and the Tornadoes led 14-0 with 4:41 left in the first quarter.
The Warriors dug in their heels after that and scored a touchdown of their own as Christopher Willis connected with Garrick Stoliby on a 32-yard touchdown pass. The extra point failed and Philadelphia held a 14-6 lead.
The second quarter went scoreless until Philadelphia came up with a safety with 2:27 left in the second quarter. The Tornadoes took the free kick and moved in for a score. On the final play of the half, Latimer Smith kicked a 25-yard field goal to send the Tornadoes into the locker room with a 19-6 lead.
Philadelphia matched its first half scoring in the third quarter.
The Tornadoes took the third quarter kickoff and marched the ball to the Choctaw Central 36-yard line. Lee Smith connected with Grace on an 18-yard pass play that put Philadelphia inside the Warriors' 20-yard line. Willis then pounded the ball into the end zone on five consecutive running plays, scoring on a one-yard run. The extra point failed and the Tornadoes led 25-6 with 8:52 left in the third quarter.
The two teams were battling it out in the trenches when suddenly Philadelphia's Marquise Matthews broke loose for an 89-yard TD run. The extra point try was no good and the Tornadoes took a 31-6 lead with 3:16 left in the third quarter.
Willis, who has scored 25 touchdowns on offense this season, scored one on defense late in the third quarter as he returned an interception 50 yards for a touchdown. Smith kicked the extra point and the Tornadoes had the game well in hand.
The Tornadoes finished the night with 15 first downs and 337 total yards on offense. Philadelphia had 251 yards rushing on 41 carries and completed nine-of-13 passing attempts for 86 yards. Choctaw Central had 369 total yards. The Warriors had 187 rushing yards on 24 carries and completed 12-of-30 passing attempts for 182 yards.
Willis was the leading rusher with 118 yards on 24 carries. Willis has now rushed for 1,713 yards on 237 carries so far this season. Matthews finished the night with 99 yards on three carries. Lee Smith had all of the passing yardage. Triq Patrick had five catches for 42 yards and Grace had three catches for 38 yards. Julian Riddle had nine tackles and a sack while C.J. Johnson had six tackles and a sack.
Christopher Willis led the Warriors with 82 yards on seven carries while Garrick Stoliby and Lenoise Willis both had 45 yards rushing. Stoliby also caught six passes for 122 yards. Lee McMillan led the Warriors in tackles with 15 while Wesley Martin added 14 and Monte Favre had 12.
"I would like to compliment the Choctaw Central coaches and players for having an outstanding season," Dyess said. "They played had the whole year and never gave up."
